Recently, I saw a post on my local cloth diapering group. A mom had just bought some cloth diaper covers and realized that they were not like her beloved pocket diapers. She didn’t know what they were actually for, so she asked the group.

I was about to answer… and then I realized that there’s no way that I could write a short answer about the wonders of cloth diaper covers. Rather than post something that’s tl;dr (too long; didn’t read or “teal deer”) on a Facebook wall, I figured that making a nice blog post with visual aids made more sense.

Cloth diaper covers are pretty versatile things. You can get cloth diaper covers in a variety of formats: basic, yoked, doubled gussets, or a snap in insert.

Basic Cloth Diaper Covers

A very tiny Eudora modeling her Bummis Super Whisper Snap Wrap.

Your basic cloth diaper covers are a single piece of PUL or TPU with a closure of either Velcro or snaps. You just lay whatever you put inside the diaper down over the cover, put your baby down on top, and close it up. These are often a part of a lower price cloth diapering system with flats, prefolds, or contour diapers.

Double Gusset Cloth Diaper Covers

The interior of a Thirsties cover.

Double gusset diaper covers are just what they sound like: a cover that is very similar to your basic cloth diaper covers, except they include a double gusset to contain potentially explosive and oozy newborn or breastfed baby poo.

All-in-Two/Hybrid Cloth Diaper Covers

All-in-Two and hybrid systems are your basic cloth diaper cover with a twist. Some have a yoke style to them in order to keep the insert in place. Others have a snap-in method for their inserts. You can use the designed inserts with the hybrid cloth diaper covers, or you can mix and match your inserts for a fun experiment. (Here’s a handy dandy chart to compare some all-in-two cloth diaper covers.)

Advantages of Cloth Diaper Covers

Cloth diaper covers are often lower priced and exceptional versatile. You can use multiple types of diapers inside the covers (whether it’s a hybrid or all-in-two system or a basic cover). Cloth diaper covers will also dry significantly faster than all-in-one diapers. In fact, a Best Bottom diaper shell can dry in just a couple of hours on my drying rack.

I’m no stranger to buying cloth diapers. While I usually stick to buying cloth diapers from my local cloth diaper store, I’ve been known to shop from a co-op.

Buying Cloth Diapers from a Co-Op

When you’re buying cloth diapers from a co-op, you’re getting some diapers at some absolutely amazingly low prices. Really, the price is the single biggest draw to going through a co-op. There’s also the sense of community that can be built through a co-op. Some diapers (like my absolutely gorgeous purple paisley Sunbaby diaper) are beautiful and not readily available from other sources. Letting the co-op head deal with ordering from overseas instead of having to deal with that headache yourself is fantastic. If you’re out for a beautiful diaper to wear with an outfit but have no illusions of it holding up for more than a season, then co-ops are a great source for that. And I’m really fond of RLR, but it’s not locally available. And I can buy it from a co-op for half the price. [Read more…]

You’d think with all of that padding, we’d have the perfect overnight cloth diapering solution…

I’ve known for quite some time that I have a super soaker toddler. Norton is amazing with his ability to pee through any overnight diaper. He can flood the bed in a disposable. He can flood the bed with the most reliable overnight cloth diapering solution that I’ve come up with to date. However, the diaper that I changed this morning just confused me.

I’ve found that Norton has been doing very well with a Blueberry cloth diaper overnight. I’ve been wrapping the long microterry Blueberry insert in an AppleCheeks three layer bamboo insert. Sometimes it works. Some nights, he soaks the entire thing and floods the bed. However, this morning was just weird. Our best bet overnight cloth diapering solution didn’t work. That wasn’t surprising. There are nights that he saturates both inserts. What was surprising was that the inserts weren’t completely saturated. There was still about an inch of dry insert on the back.

How on earth did he so completely and utterly flood the diaper like that? The only thing that I can think of is that maybe, just maybe, he was pointing up when his daddy put his diaper on for overnight. Other than that, I’ve got absolutely no idea. If using disposable diapers overnight worked consistently, I’d just give up and go back to using sposies at night. However, if they don’t work, either, it’s pretty pointless. Either way, I’m still having to strip the bed and wash sheets.

Have you ever had an overnight cloth diapering solution not work out like that? What do you think caused it?

When it comes to buying cloth diapers, I love to experiment. I love to try different brands and different styles. When it comes to where I buy cloth diapers, I don’t do much experimenting. I have a few trusted stores that I shop with and very rarely shop anywhere else. Lagoon Baby is making it onto that “trusted store” list. There are a few reasons that I love Lagoon Baby and encourage others to shop there.

Lagoon Baby is Proudly Canadian

I like to keep my Canadian dollars in Canada as much as possible. Buying from a Canadian business that stocks a lot of Canadian brands is just awesome. What better way to improve the national economy than to stick to Canadian stuff as much as possible? (Plus, I know that stuff that’s made in Canada is made in humane conditions due to the labor laws that this country has, and I know that workers are generally paid a liveable wage because of those same laws.) Since Lagoon Baby is located in Maple Ridge, BC, I know that I’m doing just that. Plus, shipping is pretty quick for me since I’m still in British Columbia.

Lagoon Baby is a WAHM Business

I’ve done my time as a work at home mom. I love being able to support other moms who work from home and stay with their babies. More to the point, I love being able to support work at home mom businesses that are truly ethical businesses instead of a rebranding business.

Lagoon Baby is Friendly

Natalie is pretty friendly to interact with over Facebook and Twitter. She’s quick to answer and is always willing to look for answers if she doesn’t have one.

Lagoon Baby Provides Options

Lagoon Baby’s store has some fantastic options that are not common in my city. She carries Bottombumpers, Blueberry, Peachy Green, Funky Fluff, and some other diapers that are on my wish list. Her stock is growing and changing all the time!

1.) Bottombumpers.

They are a diaper that I recently learned about. They’re an all-in-one with side snaps. So far, I’m running 50/50 on my liking side snaps. And the new polka dot prints that they announced at the ABC Show are really cute.

2.) Peachy Green.

They’ve got this adorable denim print all-in-two one size diaper that I’m out to try. So far, I’ve only seen denim diapers in BumCheeks (which I hated with a fiery passion) and China Cheapies. I’d love a Made in the USA denim diaper.

3.) Blueberry fitted cloth diaper.

Fitted diapers are super awesomely absorbent. Blueberry diapers are completely and utterly awesome as a rule. The snap configuration is something that my husband can actually use. I can’t imagine a more awesome fitted diaper combination out there.

4.) Thirsties Duo with Snaps.

I gave the Thirsties Duo a shot a while back with Norton. Unfortunately, they were Velcro, so he would not keep them on. I really would like to give this cloth diaper a chance to perform, so I’m eyeballing the Scottish Rose print for Eudora. With a snap closure, of course.

5.) Goodmamas.

An American made bunch of cloth diapers made by work at home moms? And they’re beautiful? Yes, please!

6.) Imagine diapers.

They’re a Nicki’s Diapers exclusive. Nicki’s Diapers is the same company that brought us Planet Wise wet bags and Best Bottom diapers. I want to see what else she’s brought us.

7.) JamTots Berry Plush AIO.

They’re covers, but they have snap in inserts. And they’re adorable. Besides, it’s minky, and minky is cuddly. (And the Northern Lights fabric is beautiful.)

8.) Blueberry Minky.

I love Blueberry one size pocket diapers. I love how snuggly a minky insert is. Wouldn’t a minky exterior make my baby even more snuggly?

9.) Kawaii Good Night Heavy Wetters.

I’ve heard people swear by these diapers as an overnight cloth diapering solution for super soakers. I wonder if it could stand up to Norton?

10.) Kissaluvs Wool Covers.

What better way to get the most out of your fitted diapers as an overnight solution? Plus, I’ve never actually used wool anything on my kids.

11.) Swaddlebees Econappies.

I really want to know what the difference is between the Econappies and the Blueberry pocket diaper.

12.) Econobums.

Econobums is the only product left in the Cotton Babies line up that I haven’t tried.

13.) BumWear One Size Pocket diaper.

From what I’ve seen at Nicki’s Diapers, they look like what you’d get if a Best Bottom cloth diaper and a pocket cloth diaper made babies.

14.) Tweedle Bugs One Size Pocket diaper.

They’re cute with a variety of soft tones.

15.) Oh Katy.

I’ve had friends in the States that have sworn by their Oh Katy diapers.

16.) Funky Fluff.

There’s a very simple reason why I want to try one of these. Have you seen the color combinations? I love the contrasting snaps with the solid shells. I keep trying to win one of them, but I haven’t had any luck yet!

Yesterday, I put up a list for the best and worst cloth diapers for poo. However, it got a little long, so I decided to split it into three parts before it became one huge tl;dr. (Too long; didn’t read.) Here’s the second parts!

Blueberry cloth diapers

Blueberry cloth diapers are another wonderful, all around cloth diaper. I love the beautiful prints, the angled snaps and the fact that I can stuff them to make them a fantastic overnight cloth diapering solution for Norton. They won’t necessarily contain the scariest poops ever, but they are remarkably easy to clean, much like FuzziBunz and BumGenius.

Bummis prefolds and covers

Cleaning from the prefold is no problem, depending on the fold. You just pick it up and spray. Cleaning the covers? Meh. It’s got that same “be careful or the water will seriously bounce back at you” issue that I find to be common with the majority of covers out there.

TotsBots Easy Fit

This is just an “okay” diaper for poop. It catches okay, and it rinses okay. The only worry is that I have to be careful which end I hold the diaper to spray so that the all-in-one tongue doesn’t fall out. For Norton, this is not an issue, but since Eudora poops up the back, there are times that poo actually gets in the little space above the pocket. Gross. Still a great diaper that has its advantages!

BumGenius Freetime

Now we’re starting to get into the “please don’t poop in these cloth diapers!” collection. I love my BumGenius Freetime diapers. They’re effective. They’re easy to use. They hold poop as well as the BumGenius 4.0. But I hate cleaning them. They’re an all-in-one diaper and the flaps kind of… well, flap when I try to clean one. I seem to end up with either the poop oozing under the flaps or the wrong flap on top for poop purposes.

This would have been a Wordless Wednesday post, but how on earth can I get fluff mail and not wax poetic? So instead, I bring you a Wordful Wednesday! (Please comment and link up your Wednesday posts – Wordless or otherwise – down below!)

Bumkins! An all-in-one, two contour diapers, and a Cat in the Hat cover!

Best Bottom in Jack o’ Lantern (limited edition!) and a microfiber overnight insert

Here’s hoping that these Best Bottom trainers will get Norton on the road to potty training!

I *needed* this print for Norton. Yay, Blueberry Monkeys!

All of these diapers are available at Nicki’s Diapers. The Jack o’ Lantern Best Bottom shell is a Nicki’s Diapers exclusive.

I’ve had some Blueberry diapers in my cloth diaper stash for a while, but I’ve yet to do a proper review. I got my first Blueberry diaper in August of last year for Norton. I was really, really impressed. I was so very impressed that I started on my one woman campaign to convince my local cloth diaper store to start carrying them.

Presently, I have five Blueberry diapers in my cloth diaper stash. They are the one size pocket variety, no minky exteriors. I love the fact that I get a great fit on Norton, who is around 32 pounds, and Eudora, who is roughly 16 pounds. The diapers are actually suggested to fit from ten pounds to Not to mention, some of the prints are just too beautiful for words.

They also just plain work. Blueberry diapers were the first ones that managed to give me a repeatedly successful overnight cloth diapering solution on Norton the Super Soaker. I use the long insert for Norton overnight with a Jamtots hemp doubler, or just the long insert for daytime use. With Eudora, I use the short inserts for day time use. (I haven’t used Blueberry diapers overnight on her, but that’s because her prints are so gorgeous that I hate to use them at night. I want to look at the pretty fluff!) The fit is a little less trim than some of my other diapers, but when they’re that gorgeous, why on earth would you want to hide them under a pair of pants?

As for the construction, they’re made in the USA with a PUL inner that holds up beautifully. You get two inserts (one long insert and one short) with each diaper. The snaps are configured much like the snaps on BumGenius diapers, but they are at an angle instead of straight up and down. I love the angle because it works wonderfully… especially if you’ve got a baby with chunky thighs. Even if you’ve got a chicken legged baby like my Eudora, the angled snaps are still fine and dandy.

Now for what I don’t like about Blueberry diapers. I don’t particularly like the price point. At Nicki’s Diapers, they’re around $24.00 USD at regular price. At Lagoon Baby, they’re around $28.00 CDN. However, that’s a small trade off for me, as I’d rather pay a few bucks more for diapers made in North America. I also hate how many options there are. While this is great from a consumer standpoint, it’s harder for a retailer, and that’s why some won’t even bother carrying any at all. That makes them a bit more difficult to find locally for some of us.

Would I recommend them? Oh, goodness gracious, yes. They’re gorgeous, well made diapers. I just may have to get more in the future.

I’ve already done some looking at the benefits of choosing your premium cloth diapers versus the inexpensive cloth diapers made overseas (also known as “China Cheapies”). There are pros and cons to going in either direction, but today, a cyber buddy posted about a brand new diaper (one of the China Cheapies) having a snap break.

A brand new diaper… with a snap broken in less than two weeks. Will your diaper manufacturer cover that? Or will they give you the runaround?

I’ve had snaps break. I’ve had elastics fail. With the snaps that broke, the diapers were heavily used in my cloth diaper stash rotation. Really, it was disappointing, but it’s not like they hadn’t been work horse diapers. (And now I have friends who have snap pliers, so I can get them fixed!) With the elastics that failed, I’ve had three outcomes. 1.) It was a FuzziBunz one size diaper, so I didn’t have to worry about it because the diaper comes with extra elastics that can be fixed without sewing. And it had been used for a couple of years, so it’s not like it wasn’t due to get a little TLC. 2.) It was a diaper that I’d had for at least a year, so elastics wearing out wasn’t unreasonable. There are people in my area who can fix them (like Pearl at Cloth for a Cause). 3.) It happened with a brand new GroVia shell. Actually, it was my very first GroVia shell, and I’d used it twice before an elastic actually broke in the washing machine. Cozy Bums, my local cloth diaper retailer, replaced the diaper for me and took care of the warranty stuff. (Best customer service ever.)

With the vast majority of my diapers, I have a one year manufacturer’s warranty. That’s the warranty on GroVia diapers, Swaddlebees and Blueberry, and Cotton Babies products – Flip, Econobum, and BumGenius. Happy Heinys has a different warranty depending on what it is, but elastics have a six month warranty and they’ll send you the materials to replace the elastics after that. (Snaps are lifetime. Hmm. I really should have been better about keeping my receipts for my diapers!) Rumparooz has a variable warranty similar to that of Happy Heinys. Fuzzi Bunz now has lifetime warranties.

I don’t mind paying twenty dollars or more for a diaper when I know that the manufacturer stands behind what they make.

Some of the China Cheapies brands don’t have that same guarantee. Sunbaby has a thirty day guarantee. AlvaBaby (and its rebranded diapers) don’t have a date deadline. I haven’t heard of people having great luck with getting anything repaired or replaced by other China Cheapies brands. In fact, I tried a China Cheapies that I bought off of a daily deal site once as an experiment. The diaper didn’t work. I messaged the diaper company on Twitter and was ignored. Fortunately, it was cheap, so I shrugged it off as “no big loss.”

I like knowing that my diapers are made to last. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the same quality or support from a diaper that I buy for five dollars as I would expect from a diaper that I buy for twenty-five dollars. It’s where that old adage of one getting what one pays for comes in.

Have you ever had any warranty issues with a diaper company? How was it resolved?